India needs a multi-pronged approach for the next level of development, says Manish Tewari

Former Union Minister Manish Tewari reflected on broader issues of statecraft, global power and India’s place in an increasingly complex and changing international scene. File. | Photo credit: ANI

Former Union Minister and Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari said that taking India to the next level of development would require a multi-pronged approach without which development would remain not just a challenge but a mirage.

He was addressing a gathering at the Indian School of Business (ISB) Leadership Summit 2026 in Mohali.

Mr. Tewari said the time has come to put our money where our mouth is and that requires multilateralism. “Without her, in these polarized times, the grand project of taking India to the next level of development will remain not only a challenge but a mirage.”

“India needs a movement similar to 1991, when the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and his Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, who later became Prime Minister, forged a multi-stakeholder consensus on the country’s economic trajectory,” he said.

Economic improvement

He added: “A consensus that held the field between 1991 and 2026 across different administrations. And that’s what helped unlock the creative spirits, or the animal spirits, of the Indian economy and allowed it to grow. And as a result, the benefits went to a very large number of people that we were able to lift up for economic improvement.”

Mr. Tewari, who was the keynote speaker, reflected on broader issues of statecraft, global power and India’s position in an increasingly complex and changing international scene. “Between 2019 and 2026, the world has changed tremendously. And that’s what drove me to write my latest book, which is called The World Adrift. As business students, you can’t separate yourself from the larger geopolitical construct that fundamentally characterizes not only our daily work lives, but more importantly, our very existence as a civilization.”

The MP said: “Unfortunately we haven’t been able to really get a foothold in fourth industrial revolution technologies. And that’s not because we don’t have the talent, not because we don’t have the capacity to build capacity, but because we don’t put the capital behind it.”

Published – 20 Sep 2026 22:20 IST